Aunt Polly
by legrandeval
Summary: Jackson brings Aaron to Dinner with Hazel and Aunt Polly. Set a couple of days after Shadrach's death.    Disclaimer: Unfortunately the boys belong to ITV not me.
1. Chapter 1

**Aunt Polly**

A/N: Hi guys, first upload to . Sorry if I fudge it a tad. Massive thanks to Brencon for being a fab beta. Hope you like

**Chapter 1**

He had to get away. Away from Smithy, Wishing-Well Cottage and anyone answering to the name of Dingle. They were doing his head in more so than usual with all this talk about his granddad and the funeral. How he ended up at Jackson's Aunt Polly's for Sunday dinner he had no fucking idea. But here he was, standing awkwardly in the overstuffed, over-chinzed front room of someone who obviously went to the same decorating school as Edna Birch, peering in at Howard the Sixth dozing on his perch while the old lady beside him insisted that he give her his expert opinion because "you live with a vet, dear, something is bound to have rubbed off on you".

It had been at that point that Jackson had abandoned him in favour of helping Hazel with the roast. Mind you, from the bangs and muffled grumblings coming from the kitchen he wasn't sure if he wasn't better off where he was.

Jackson's whole family were mad. Fact. His lips twitched as he suddenly got the image of the Walsh's vs the Dingles' on the Jeremy Kyle show. He felt a pair of sharp eyes upon him and coughed to try and disguise his smirk.

"Hazel doesn't know but I do." He swivelled his head to fully look at Aunt Polly, not sure how to respond but suddenly feeling very uncomfortable.

"She was in Jamaica and the paper's long been used to collect Howard's little presents. That boy is the nearest thing I have to a grandson. I'll be keeping a very close eye on you. Hurt him again, in any way and you'll answer to me. Understand?"

How the fuck was he supposed to respond to that? He knew that nothing he said would reassure the suddenly quite terrifying old lady.

After too long a pause, when, if anything her glare became deeper, he took a deep breath and responded, "You'd give my uncle a run for his money with a stare like that." He rubbed the back of his head. Where was Jackson? If he was in here right now he'd know just what to say.

The glare deepened once again. How the fuck did she manage that? He really should take lessons.

"What do you expect me to say?" He winced slightly as he realised just how sharp and defensive he sounded, even to his own hears. To give Polly her due, she hadn't even flinched.

"I don't think there is anything you can say, not that I'd believe. Not here and now. But I will expect you to prove yourself."

Aaron swallowed. Polly seemed to take that as an agreement on his side because she nodded once, decisively, and ordered him to pour her a large sherry. Almost as an afterthought she told him to fetch himself one too.

He hated sherry but somehow this felt like it was all part of some sort of test. "I have changed, you know," he muttered, but he knew that the old lady could hear him. "I am changing." More decisive. Better. "A couple of months ago, I'd have been out through your front door by now, if I'd even come at all."

"And you're saying that this is down to Jackson?"

"No, yes, I don't know… He's part of it, but not really, you know?"

He turned round and walked the two steps to Polly, who was by now sitting with her fluffy slippers propped on some sort of knitted stuffed foot stool thing (he never could remember its name but he vaguely remembered his Nana Livesy having something similar.) She shifted her feet to the side and nodded for him to sit there so that they could converse face to face. He had to admire her tactics. She now had the advantage of height over him.

"Hazel made this, years ago now, in Domestic Science. She's good with her hand's, is My Hazel. Jackson gets it from her. Mind you, he gets his brain from his father. Wizz with numbers, he is, an accountant. That lad out there could have done anything. Don't know why he didn't go to university with brains like that. Still…" She sniffed and knitted her hands together against her chest.

"But we weren't talking about him, were we? Don't worry, the noise those two are making in there," she nodded towards the back of the house where it sounded like Hazel and Jackson were banging saucepans together just for the hell of it. "Where were we? Oh yes, your miraculous transformation into the perfect boyfriend."

Aaron shifted uncomfortably. "It's not like that." He was back to mumbling, finding the clash between the carpet and the sofa the most interesting thing in the world. He felt the bump of a slipper against his leg. A prompt to continue. He took a deep breath, swallowed and forced himself to look up.

"Jackson, he, well, umm… It's like he has faith in me. I've not had that before. Apart from Paddy. He's the vet." Polly nodded again, this time in understanding.

"When me and me mam moved in with him, I went out of my way to make his life hell. He's a nice bloke. Too nice. Too good for me mam. I knew it wouldn't last." He shook his head from side to side, momentarily caught up in his own thoughts.

"I thought he'd be like Sandra, my dad's wife. When they got together she was all about these family outings. Days at the zoo, stuff like that. But it always felt like she saw it as something she was expected to do and then she had her first kid [NOTE – NEED TO CHECK IF GIRL OR BOY – FROM OLD EPS] and all of a sudden it was like I was just this irritating add-on to her perfect family. And her mam and dad never liked me. Never bothered to hide it, did they? And I know I'm not a saint. Never was, but it was easy to play down to their expectations."

He had no idea why he was spilling his soul to the old lady, telling her stuff he'd not told Jackson or Paddy.

"The Gestapo would have nothing on you," he told her. She seemed to take it as a compliment, if anything.

"Thirty seven years of teaching, lad. I pegged your type as soon as you came in. And don't give me that look! You lash out at the world before it lashes out at you. Go on then…"

Her eyes were wide open and staring at him directly and Aaron suddenly realised that it was the same look that Jackson often directed at him. His 'I can see through all your crap' look and, really, he'd have to try and get that comparison out of his head fast otherwise his sex life would be ruined.

"What do you expect me to tell you?" He rubbed the back of his head reflexively and dear god, would she ever blink? He looked away to the wallpaper, trying to collect his thoughts.

"I'm not trying to make excuses. Honest, I'm not. I wish to god that I hadn't punched Jackson. There's a lot of stuff I wish I'd never done but I am trying." He looked back at her, almost pleadingly but he hoped sincerely. "This is all new to me, you know? I… I don't like people getting close. They just let you down every time. But Jackson, he seems different. He's kind. He listens. He, I think…" He looked at her and said softly "I think he understands." He could feel the blush spreading across his cheeks and wanted the ground to open up and swallow him.

Polly looked at him, appraisingly. "Jackson's a good boy. Too good." She left the 'for you' unspoken but Aaron got her meaning. "He never told me about what you did. I read it all in the paper. So, what's your side of the story?"

Aaron took a deep breath. He had to stay calm through this, he knew this was the only chance the old lady would give him and Jackson was too important to him to blow it. He said "I've got a temper." Her eyes narrowed. "I didn't want anyone to know. I was…" He still couldn't bring himself to admit how scared he had been, or how much he still was. "I was in the pub. Everyone was there. My best mate had already caught us out." He knew he was crimson up to the top of his head. Polly's eyebrows raised as she continued to glare but Aaron was too busy tripping over himself to notice.

"It wasn't even a proper snog, Aaron." Aaron froze as he realised that Jackson was leaning against the entrance to the room. "I just came to give you five minutes notice – dinner's almost ready. Mum's just cremating the roasties but seems like I arrived just in time. Leave it alone, Auntie P. We've moved way on. Not really any of your business, is it?"

They were matching each other, glare for glare, but the old lady had the edge. "I have a right to know who you're getting mixed up with and invited into my home."

"Leave it please," Jackson pleaded.

Polly merely sniffed again and ordered Jackson to take Aaron's still full sherry into Hazel. Aaron glared balefully at Jackson's retreating figure.

"Did you really try to gas yourself?" Aunt Polly's tone was softer now but her gaze still left Aaron with nowhere to hide. "There was a piece about it in the Courier. I, unlike those so-called journalists that rag employs, put two-and-two together after you made the front page."

He couldn't help it, Aaron felt tears welling. He squeezed his hands into fists, in an effort to stop them. "I didn't want anyone to know what I was. I hated it. I didn't want to be gay. To be different. I just wanted to be left alone." The nod came again. "Jackson's been great." He looked up in time to catch a genuinely warm smile light up Polly's face briefly as their eyes met. "Everyone else skirts around it or babies me." He scrunched his face up before he relaxed it into a smile. "He treats me like me. Evan Paddy's always checking up on me. Well not so much now, just in case I'm, you know, not alone."

The laugh she gave at that was positively wicked. He couldn't help grinning back.

She shuffled forward and held out her hand to signal for Aaron's help to get up. "Well come on, they're bound to be ready for us now, and you can tell me all about this family of yours over dinner."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N 1: Thanks for all the lovely reviews. I really appreciate it guys.

A/N 2: Big thanks to Brencon for being a fab beta.

**Chapter 2**

They'd bloody done it deliberately! He'd seen the look that had passed between Hazel and her aunt as he had entered the kitchen with the old lady clinging onto his arm and, by the way he was rolling his eyes, Jackson had noticed the exchange too. The kitchen was tiny, with most of the available floor-space being taken up by a small square table, barely big enough to fit the four of them, one person per side. So here he was, sandwiched between the two women. Hazel had deemed him to he the "filling in our sandwich." Jackson, seated opposite him, had very deliberately not caught his eye. It was at that point that Aunt Polly had decreed that there was to be 'no hanky panky under her table'. It was Aaron's turn to focus on a spot to the left of Jackson's shoulder.

Aaron, whether by nature or by the circumstance of his upbringing, was an introvert. This was not apparently a trait that Jackson's family possessed. The conversation flowed through different topics from some relative's 50th birthday plans to Aunt Polly's next physio appointment. Aaron was content to sit there and enjoy his food, letting the words mostly wash over him, not bothering to pay much attention, especially when Hazel wandered off into complex tangents. He didn't think he'd ever had a home-made Yorkshire pudding before. His mam couldn't cook to save her life and both Lisa and Sandra had always used the frozen one. Marlon would probably add goats cheese or something to his. He snorted at the thought, unwittingly drawing the attention to himself.

"Penny for them?" Polly practically demanded. He looked at Jackson, who just smiled encouragingly back. How to explain? He may have only just met them but he knew neither Hazel nor her aunt would let him get away with 'private joke'. Bloody teachers!

"I was just thinking that my cousin will get really paranoid about all this," he said, nodding towards his plate.

Jackson filled in the details. "Aaron's cousin is the chef in his local. Really good he is too. Must have been adopted – you burn water." He smiled quite fondly at Aaron while making the last comment. Aaron still didn't know how to respond to stuff like that but Jackson seemed to understand that too as he plunged on, drawing his family's attention back on himself. "Mind you, he does seem to take it quite personally if you say anything about his food. I thought he was going to throw the plate at me last time I was in and asked for ketchup." Aaron felt Polly's gaze upon him and squirmed. Jackson, however seemed to realise he was broaching dangerous ground and seemingly effortlessly changed topic. If Aaron thought that, if he had been in any way soppy or sensitive, Jackson would be his hero at that point.

"Yeah, Aaron's whole family are involved in every business in Emmerdale."

He couldn't help it, it was by now such a natural reaction for his hackles to raise at any comment so his 'not all' reply did come across slightly defensive.

Jackson just chuckled and listed off the connections, "The pub, the garage, the vet's, the shop."

Ahhh, banter! Aaron was beginning to recognise Jackson's teasing tone and understand that it was a sign of affection, not a personal insult. "OK, well technically Paddy isn't a relative and how do you work out I'm related to the shop?"

"Paddy's receptionist and her friend are a font of knowledge about that village. They cornered me in the pub the other day and gave me a detailed history. Let me see.. Viv is Marlon's mother-in-law and Brenda is Gennie's mum, right? I'll leave you to fill in the rest of your own personal 'Who Do You Think You Are?' details to this lot." Jackson sat back with a satisfied smirk. Aaron knew what he was doing, trying to get him to open up like that and he was going to try. Aunt Polly had told him to prove himself and that's what he had to do. He owed it to Jackson. He may barely tolerate his own family but he could see that this was important to his boyfriend.

He coughed, "Erm, yeah, well, ex-mother-in-law now and Gennie was adopted by Brenda. Mind, you should see her face if you suggested that she and Shadrach…" His face dropped as he remembered once again that Shadrach was dead and yeah, he was still angry with him for what he had said but really, that didn't matter so much now. Not when he remembered it was his Granddad that had taught him to play poker or been the one to give him his first can of larger.

"Shadrach was your grandfather, wasn't he?" Polly asked. "Was his death sudden?"

"Apparently not," Aaron replied wryly. His defensive walls came rushing back up and he didn't feel like elaborating. The Dingles may not have much but they had their pride. He wasn't going to lay his grandfather's faults out before people who were, when he thought about it, complete strangers. He couldn't help the daggers he shot Jackson when he decided to clarify, even if he brushed over the more sordid details.

"Aaron's granddad was ill but decided not to tell the family, so his death was a bit of a shock, wasn't it?" Aaron nodded in the affirmative as Jackson placed his hand comfortingly over his bunched up fist. He noted with a sense of detachment that he didn't flinch at this action, but he didn't relax either. Maybe it was because he was aware that Polly was taking careful note of his every word and action.

After a very pregnant pause that began to stretch for an uncomfortable period of time he spoke, addressing every word to his now empty plate. "I know that Jackson told you some stuff…"

"Not much," Hazel interrupted. Aaron had been wondering when she was going to make her presence felt in the conversation. "I don't know what you're like with your mother, what's her name? Virtue or something, isn't it? But in my own experience getting information out of this one is like getting blood out of a stone." At this she nudged Jackson so hard that he had to remove the hand that was still hovering supportively over Aaron's to brace himself against the table. Aaron missed its warmth instantly. Not that he'd admit it.

"Mum!" Jackson half chided and half scoffed. Aaron looked between them, as if studying some alien species. He knew that this was what a relationship between a parent and child could be like. He's seen it with Lisa and Belle often enough and he let himself wander if he could ever be like this with his own mother. Things had improved a lot, especially after that thing in the garage, as long as that prat, Carl King, wasn't around.

"You were saying?" Polly prompted somewhat impatiently, some of the steel she'd demonstrated in their earlier conversation showing through. Even the indomitable Hazel seemed to respond to it, as she kept quiet and turned her attention to Aaron.

He tried not to grit his teeth but he really hated this. Everyone looking at him. When he'd first gotten to Emmerdale, he'd taken a perverse pleasure in attention seeking but it was the wrong type of attention. He wanted people to hate him. That way they'd all leave him alone to wallow in his own self-loathing. It would be oh so easy to stuff everything up with Jackson. Just say or do one wrong thing but he knew he needed to be with Jackson more. Such feelings were a strange and new experience for him but Paddy's words from back in March kept playing round his head, even though he had dismissed them at the time. He knew it was far too soon to look at Jackson in such a light but he didn't want to shut the door on such a possibility when he was around him and that was a good thing, right? No matter how terrifying the thought of laying his inner-most thoughts and emotions was to him. So, in the face of three raised eyebrows, he would try.

He looked at Jackson. Jackson stared back. He had no idea where to begin. This went against his every instinct. For a nano-second, he had the ridiculous thought that if he could just flip the table over and run out of the house. He looked down. His fingers were actually gripping the edge of the table. This was not good. He made a conscious effort, took a deep breath, put his hands in his lap and laced his fingers tightly together. He looked towards Jackson again, silently pleading for his help. By now he could feel three pairs of eyes upon him – affectionate, curious, fierce. Jackson seemed to get the hint. Finally.

"You may not have noticed but my fella's more of a thinker, not a talker. Thought that would be perfect for this family – he's not going to be fighting to get a word in edgeways, is he?" The comment came attached with a small private smile. Aaron could have kissed Jackson at that very moment. Maybe when they were alone. The nice thing about Jackson was that he didn't push Aaron, well, apart from that time in the Woolie but if he was being completely honest with himself, Jackson didn't push him then either. It had been all inside his twisted mind.

"I want to know," Polly insisted.

"Calm down, Lady Catherine" Hazel insisted. Aaron was baffled.

"It's a Jane Austen reference. Mum's a bit obsessed. I would put it down to her being an English teacher but it's more to do with Colin Firth in a wet shirt." Aaron was still in the dark but he was fast learning that, when it came to Hazel, it was safer to just nod and agree.

"Don't tell me you weren't checking out Mr Darcy too. That bit where he gets out of the bath was when I first twigged you were gay, you know. You were practically jumping off the sofa and don't you deny it. Mind you, with that hair, you are a bit of a Bingley really." Hazel reached out and attempted to ruffle Jackson's hair as he tried to duck out of her reach.

"Gerroff mum!" Aaron couldn't help but smile at the two of them.

At that point Polly coughed, "You'd be better served if you stopped making spectacles of yourself and get me this Vienetta you promised me. That alright with you, loverboy? And while those two are making themselves useful, you and I will go back into the front room where we can make ourselves comfortable, you can fetch me another sherry and then you can tell me all about this terrifying uncle of yours and the rest."

Aaron found himself once again perching beside the fluffy slippers on Hazel's monstrosity of a foot stool. Aunt Polly was still terrifying but he felt more comfortable talking to her like this. He found that while he was resigned to her interrogation he didn't mind so much. He knew he'd have to be honest with her but he wanted her approval. Yet another new experience for him.

"So, what do you want to know?" Aaron asked. "For the record I'm 18, apprentice mechanic. My uncle owns the garage. I'm going to college part time to get my NVQ. I live with me mam's ex. I hate her boyfriend. He hates me more. My dad kicked me out two years ago. I haven't seen him or his other kids since. My granddad's just died – he was an alco before you read that on Howard's future bog roll. Oh, and my surname may be Livesy but really, I'm a Dingle."

He looked her straight in the face, almost daring her to say something, anything. Polly stared right back. "At least you'll be useful if I want one of those big new flat tellys. Hazel and I would enjoy watching Oklahoma on a 32 inch flat screen."

Aaron couldn't help himself. He laughed.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the delay. Here's a short, and hopefully sweet update. Many yawn inducing reasons for that but mainly due to broken router (doing this at sis's house). Anyway, I know this story is now way behind the show, so if you're sticking with it bless your cotton socks. Thank you to anyone who posted a review. They're all lovely and very encouraging. This whole thing was originally meant to be a one-off and basically I'm making it up as the muse takes me and real life, and now sis house painting) lets me. Uber thanks once again to brencon for being a lovely beta.

**Chapter 3**

They'd ended up staying until quite late: watching old films, doing nothing. Aaron had ended up enjoying himself, not that he'd ever admit to that, especially the bit with the films. Musicals genuinely were not his thing but it was fun covertly watching Hazel squirm her way through Oklahoma and Jackson making funny faces at him when no-one else was looking. Aaron had kept to his perch on the stool but Jackson had plonked himself down on the sofa beside Aunt Polly. By the end of the night even Aaron was calling her that too. You just couldn't help but get sucked into their craziness, a bit like the Barton's really, minus the illegal substances apart from the osteoporosis cream.

Hazel had made it half way through her second bottle of wine when she'd dropped off. As her snores reverberated through the room, Aunt Polly decided to vent her spleen, "Oh my god! Every night! Every bloody night! I'm waiting for Clare next door to complain to the council. How are her little ones meant to sleep? Mind you, the sound of those two little buggers, no offence boys, through that wall..."

"Now pass me that remote control, it's time for Top Gear and I don't know about you two but that Hamster does it for me every time. That's the problem with your mother being here, dear. I'm missing my daily fix on Dave, that's what you call it, isn't it, a fix?"

Jackson placed a kiss on Aaron's forehead as he got up to grab the remote from its place beside the TV. Aaron was distracted from musing on the pointlessness of having to shift to change the channel because Aunt Polly insisted on keeping it beside the TV where she could find it by the set. It was nice, comfortable. Not a big deal. OK, he wouldn't be jumping Jackson in front of his great aunt any time soon but this? This was good.

Just as Jackson was about to sit down, he was ordered back into the kitchen to make them all a cup of tea and to dig out the chocolate hobnobs, which had been hidden from Hazel because Polly didn't just share them with anyone, you know.

Just as a particularly loud snuffle emanated from the armchair in the corner, Polly shuffled around to make herself more comfortable and Aaron braced himself for the next onslaught. He recognised the look on the old lady's face by that stage. Every time she found an excuse to send Jackson, but particularly Hazel, out of the room, she came out with another question guaranteed to make Aaron squirm where he sat and make him very glad he'd never had to face her in the classroom. She'd managed to wrangle more personal information out of him that Jackson and Paddy combined knew.

"So, what do you want to know this time? You've already given me the lecture about smoking. I've told you about Clyde. Ummmm, musical tastes?"

"Don't try to be cheeky with me! You've already told me all I need to know. You don't know the first thing about musicals – that'll cost you some of those brownie points. Honestly, you could at least pretend to live up to one of the stereotypes. What on earth am I meant to tell the girls at bingo?" At that point Jackson re-entered the room, juggling a tray leaded with mugs and a plate of biscuits mumbling about unhelpful boyfriends. "You don't deserve any help," Polly commented. "You've been scoffing my hobnobs in the kitchen. There are crumbs on your shirt. Now be quiet, it's already started."

By the time the new Bugatti was shown Aaron had successfully managed to block out the sound of Hazel's snoring. Polly, however, decided that this was the perfect time to prod him with her foot to get his attention. "This vet of yours, any good with budgies is he? Only I'm a bit worried about poor Steve there. He's being terribly quiet."

Jackson suddenly sat up straight, disturbing Aaron from his position leaning, very comfortably, against Jackson's leg. He hadn't even realised his body had gravitated towards Jackson's, just like when they were asleep.

"Hold up," Jackson exclaimed, "I thought the budgie was called Howard because of the guy from Oklahoma?"

Aunt Polly just rolled her eyes and smiled indulgently at her great-nephew. It was pretty similar to that look Jackson liked to direct at Aaron and really, he needed to stop noticing things like that. "Boys, boys, boys. You have a lot to learn. The budgie is called Steve. As in McQueen. I'll let you into another secret - Gordon MacRea played Curley in Oklahoma. But don't you dare tell your mother Jackson, l'm having fun."


End file.
